Precautions and Offences as per the Dog Owners Liability Act

24 Oct Precautions and Offences as per the Dog Owners Liability Act

Being one of the vastest areas in the law, personal injury envelops a whole lot of possible causes. The most common examples include car accidents, medical malpractice, slip and fall and also dog bites. The last is particularly interesting because it entails responsibility without actual direct negligence as in every other given situation. The dog bite sub division is also rather intriguing because it poses a lot of different questions. Some of the most common ones of them include the offences and the precautions that the dog owner has to take.

Precautions

The law is rather silent about these as it doesn’t really enlist what an owner has to do. However, the formulation is broad and open to interpretation. The dog owner is obligated to exercise all kinds of reasonable precautions which are intended to prevent the dog from biting, attacking and behaving in a manner which poses a threat to other people or domestic animals. As you can see, there aren’t any clear examples or obligations. However, the practice establishes that all precautions which are not harming the animal and are enough to prevent the general attacks and threats are legitimate enough.

All of these provisions are set forth in article 5.1, paragraphs “a” and “b” under the section for Precautions by Dog Owners in the dog Owners’ Liability Act of Ontario which is in full effect in the city of Toronto.

Offences

As you can imagine, an offence is constituted as a particular breach of a certain provision that the law stipulates. The Act states that every person who contravenes a stipulation set forth by the act discussed hereby or respectively an order which has been issued under the act is committing an offence. This means that he is going to be held accountable and liable for his actions. The general article 18, paragraph 1 sets a limit of $10,000 or imprisonment of not any more than a period of six months. Of course, both of the charges can be imposed at the same time.

However, the next paragraph 2 is a special one and it contains more severe liability. It is directed towards the corporations. This is fair. Corporations are generally consisted of ruling bodies such as the General Meeting of Partners or Shareholders, depending on the type of the entity. This means that more people are responsible for the certain behavior of the judicial entity and it is logical for the responsibility to be increased.

The provisions which regulate the offences as per the Dog Owners’ Liability Act of Ontario can be found in Article 18, paragraph 1, 2 and 3 under the Offences section. Understanding the law is going to provide you with a certain edge.